Plucking mechanism for musical instruments of the harpsichord family



H. W. BURTON PLUCKING MECHANISM FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS May 19, 1970 OF THE HARPSICHORD FAMILY Filed June 6, 1968 a -"1mg? HERBERT n4 BURTON .Z'NVENTOR 7 a) K ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,512,444 PLUCKING MECHANISM FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE HARPSICHORD FAMILY Herbert W. Burton, 917 0 St., Lincoln, Nebr. 68508 Filed June 6, 1968, Ser. No. 735,088 Int. Cl. Gc 1/06 US. Cl. 84258 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In stringed instruments of the harpsichord family, which are fundamentally harps placed horizontally, the horizontal strings of the musical instrument are plucked from plectra operated from a keyboard instead of being plucked by the musicians fingers. When a key is depressed by the musicians finger, a vertically elongate plucking mechanism or jack rises, causing the plectrum, which may be a quill or a small piece of synthetic resin or leather, to rise and pluck the string. When the key is released the jack falls and the plectrum, which is fixed to a pivota tongue, slides silently past the string, and a small piece of felt on the jack automatically damps the plucked string to stop its vibration. Thus, during the life of a harpsichord, each of the several plectra, the tongue pivotal mechanism, and the dampeners, are employed repeatedly and eventually wear out or break and need to be replaced.

The manufacture of a jack or plucking mechanism represents tedious and precise techniques in order to provide a quality musical instrument having reliable and long lasting performance, and such tedious manufacturing techniques have contributed significantly in making the harpsichord a very expensive instrument. More.- over, due to the delicate nature of harpsichord plucking mechanisms, harpsichords are relatively expensive to maintain in operational condition. For example, in the prior art, a broken plectrum means that a repair man must tediously remove the affected jack, carefully remove the pivotal tongue with precision instruments, remove the malfunctioning plectrum, fashion a substitute plectrum by hand and then tediously re-fashion and re-shape the substitute plectrum repeatedly to make sure it will fit and to attain the desired instrument voicing qualities. If the tongue spring mechanism should fail, the replacement and final adjustment thereof represents an exceedingly laborious and time-consuming task. Replacement of the dam-pener is also a tedious operation.

It is accordingly the general object of the present invention to provide a harpsichord plucking mechanism that provides exceedingly good and reliable musical quality, that can be manufactured economically and with consistent quality, and that can be repaired and otherwise maintained easily and quickly even by unskilled individuals.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a harpsichord plucking mechanism that can be economically and reliably produced by mass-production techniques, rather than having to be made on an individual basis by necessarily highly-skilled artisans, whereby harpsichords might be manufactured and assembled by individuals having only limited skill and training.

It is yet another object of the present invention to promaintained by relatively unskilled individuals, including the average harpsichord musician, whereby the average individual might readily correct and replace broken or malfunctioning spring means, plectrum, pivot means, or dampener.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, which will-become more apparent as the description proceeds, this invention comprises the novel combination, configuration, and arrangement of parts, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein like characters refer to like parts in the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a rearward elevational view of the string plucking mechanism of the present invention which comprises an elongate. slotted shank and a tongue pivotably attached thereto.

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevational view of the string plucking mechanism taken along line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional plan view taken along lines 33 of FIGS. 1 and 2 to show a preferred embodiment for pivotably attaching the tongue to the shank.

FIG. 4 is a detailed sectional elevational view of the tongue member showing the uniphase structurally-continuous resinous construction thereof.

The string plucking mechanism of the present invention is normally utilized in the upright position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and comprises an upright elongate shank S and a pivotably associated upright tongue T.

Upright elongate shank S has an upright longitudinal axis 11 and an upright height defined by a transverse upper end 12 and a transverse lower end 13. Shank S has an upright planar forward side 14 and an upright rearward side 15 that is substantially generally parallel with forward side 14. The effective transverse Width of shank S is defined by a pair of substantially parallel shank-sides e.g. 16 and 17.

Shank S has two main portions defining the upright height thereof including a wider upper web portion B and a narrower lower stern portion M integrally joined together at intervening neck juncture N. Shank web B has a transverse width defined by a pair of substantially parallel elongate upright web-sides including a first webside 16 and a second web-side 17, said web-sides 16 and 17 being disposed along opposite sides of upright axis 11 and in substantial parallelism therewith. Shank stem M commences at the shank lower end 13, and stem M is preferably symmetrical about upright axis 11. Shank web B is of greater upright height than that of stem M, and web B comprises the major proportion of the shanks upright height whereby the web height (12-N) exceeds the stem height (N13). The entire upright shank height (12-13) bears a many-fold ratio with respect to the effective transverse width (16-17) of the shank web B, and herein the ratio is preferably on the order of fifteen as indicated mathematically in the formula,

There is a vertical threaded bore 18 commencing at shank lower end 13 and concentric about axis 11, and a vertical screw 19 is threadedly engaged with bore 18 whereby the plucking mechanism might be removably attached to a harpsichord type stringed instrument.

Shank S has a vertical elongate rectangular central slot 20 therethrough, said slot 20 being preferably positioned at the shank upper web B. Slot 20 has a transverse upper end 22 positioned below shank upper end 12 to provide a transverse bar 32 between 12 and 22, and a transverse lower end 23 for slot 20 substantially parallel to upper end 12, said slot lower end 23- being positioned nearer to shank upper end 12 than to shank lower end 13. More over, slot 20 has a transverse width defined by a pair of substantially parallel vertically elongate slot-sides including a first slot-side 26 and a second slot-side 27, said respective slot-sides 26 and 27 being disposed along opposite sides of axis 11 and in substantial parallelism therewith. The first web-side 16 and the first slot-side 26 define a first vertical side-bar 36 therebetween while second webside 17 and first slot-side 27 define a second vertical sidebar 37 therebet-Ween, the transverse width of the side-bars 36 and 37 being substantially uniform therealong. As alluded to in FIG. 3, and which will be explained later in greater detail, side-bars 36 and 37 are provided with transverse notches 38 and 39, respectively, at common elevation, said notches extending forwardly from shank rearward side for a finite common distance. Notches 38 and 39 are of substantial hemi-cylindrical shape about axis 30.

The shank rearward side 15 has a vertical upper-groove 31 disposed along shank axis 11 commencing at shank upper end 12 whereby a downwardly-recessed transverse-bar 21 exists immediately above slot upper end 22. Transverse bar 32 is provided with a vertically threaded bore 28 therethrough along axis 11, and a vertical adjustment screw 29 is threadedly engaged with bore 28 whereby the lower or lead end of screw 29 provides a stop means to limit the forward travel of pivotal tongue T.

There is a vertical upwardly-extending L-shaped finger 33, the shorter transverse arm 34 of finger 33 being disposed wholly below slot upper end 22 and integrally attached to shank S at first shank-side 166. Longer vertical arm 35 of finger 33 is substantially parallel to and transversely offset from first shank-side 16 including at shank upper end 12 whereby a finite spatial gap G exists between longer arm 35 and first shank-side 16. A sheet of compressive fabric 21 is removably attached within gap G to provide a sound dampener for the string being plucked. Preferably, longer finger arm 35 is transversely outwardly resiliently deflectable (as indicated in phantom line in FIG. 1) to facilitate for dampener 21 the insertion into, the attachment within, and the subsequent removal from gap G. Such desirable transverse resilient deflectability for finger vertical arm 35 might be attained by providing the entire shank S including a uniphase shank web B and finger 33 from a structurally-continuous resilient resinous material. Opposed portions of first shank-side 16 and vertical arm 35 at gap G might be serrated to more securely hold dampener 21 therebetween.

Upright elongate tongue member T has an elongate vertical axis disposed substantially along shank axis 11, and tongue T is positioned substantially within and vertically along shank slotted portion 20. Tongue T comprises three main integrally-connected portions including a head 40 at the tongue upper portion and comprising the major mass of tongue T, a tail 50 extending vertically downwardly from head 40 along axis 11, and a plectrum 60 extending forwardly of head 40. As indicated in FIGS. 2 and 4, tongue T is of a uniphase structurallycontinuous resinous nature throughout, and for reasons to be explained later, tongue T is preferably molded as one integral unit from a resilient resinous material.

Tongue T is pivotably attached to shank S along transverse axis 3--3 of FIG. 1, which is synonymous with transverse axis 30 of FIG. 3, with a transverse pivot means e.g. lug 48-49 and notches 38-39, whereby tongue T is adapted to pivot forwardly and rearwardly along the plane defined by plectrum 60. The transverse pivot means might be a transverse pivot pin (not shown) passing transversely through and circumferentially completely surrounded by first side-bar 36, head 40, and second side-bar 37, in order. However, a transverse pivot pin as the pivot means makes installation and subsequent removal and replacement of the tongue T very tedious and expensive, and thus, the rearwardly-entering transverse pivot means along forward-rearward axis PR and illustrated in FIG. 3 is preferred. Extending transversely outwardly from headsides 46 and 47, respectively, and in uniphase structurallycontinuous relationship therewith, are cylindrical nibs or trunions 48 and 49 that are slightly larger about axis 30 than are notches 38 and 39 whereby nibs 48 and 49 might be press-fit into and revolvably secured by notched portions 38 and 39. As indicated in phantom line in FIG. 3, tongue T is readily removably pivotably attachable to and detachable from shank side-bars 36 and 37 from the shank rearward side 15. Of course, an equivalent method for providing the preferred rearwardly-insertable transverse pivot means would be to incorporate the transverse cylindrical nibs on side-bars 36 and 37 and to provide the head forward planar side 44 with the transverse notches along head-sides 46 and 47. Alternatively, but slightly more cumbersome and hence less desirable, tongue T might be removably inserted into the pivotal position along axis FR from the forward direction provided that notched portions 38 and 39 commence on shank forward side 14, provided that set-screw 29 is temporarily withdrawn upwardly of surface 22, and provided that tail portion 50 is exceedingly resiliently flexible. Whatever specific transverse pivot means is employed, tongue member T is free to pivot rearwardly as indicated in phantom line in FIG. 2

Tongue head portion 40 has a transverse planar upper end 42 that slopes downwardly and forwardly of the head upper extremity 41 at head planar rearward side 45. Thus, the planar upper end 42 of tongue head 40 is adapted to abut the adjustment-screw stop-means 29 to provide a forward limit of travel for tongue T. Head 40 is disposed within shank slotted portion 20, and the head upper extremity 41 is disposed below slot upper and 22 while head lower extremity 43 is disposed above slot lower end 23. Tongue tail portion 50 is relatively transversely narrower than head 40. The upper extremity of tail 50 is disposed at head lower end 43 while the tail lower extremity 53 is disposed below slot lower end 23 within shank Web lower-groove 51, the transverse forward side of tail 50 loosely abutting the transverse surface 55 of groove 51. Tail 50 is resiliently defiectable in the forward and rearward directions with respect to head 40, and thus, tail 50' bearing against groove transverse surface 55 and with the center of gravity for tongue T being disposed above tongue pivot axis 30, tail 50 acts as a spring means to normally urge head 40 forwardly whereby its upper end 42 abuts stop-means 29. The entire rearward surface of tongue T, as originally manufactured with a plastics molding process, is planar from upper extremity 41 to lower extremity 53. However due to the greater springiness for relatively narrower tail 50, under actual use conditions the tail rearward side is curvilinear rather than planar.

Plectrum component 60 of tongue T is disposed nearer to head upper end 42 than to pivot axis 30, said plectrum being substantially perpendicular to head forward side 44. Plectrum 60 has a smooth planar upper side 62, a lower side 63, a forward extremity 64, and a rearward extremity at 44. The thickness of plectrum 60 between sides 62 and 63 is on the order of 0.0150.025 inch and the plectrum length between 44 and 64 is quite elongate whereby the resinous plectrum 60 is arcuately downwardly resiliently deflectable as indicated in phantom line in FIG. 2. Plectrum 60 at the juncture of its lower side 63 and head forward extremity 44 is provided with a thickened concave fillet 65 to strengthen plectrum 60 when it is downwardly resiliently deflected as occurs when a musical instrument string is plucked therewith. The structurallycontinuous resinous tongue T having the aforementioned properties might be manufactured of an acetal resin, sold under the tradename Delrin by the DuPont Chemical Company.

Operation of the string plucking mechanism is as follows. The musical instrument string is customarily positioned immediately below damper 21, and above the normal position for plectrum 60 (as shown in solid line in FIG. 2). As shank S is moved upwardly, as when the harpsichord keyboard is actuated, the plectrum upper surface 62 engages the musical instrument string whereby head 40 abuts stop-means 29 and plectrum 60 resiliently deflects arcuately downwardly to simultaneously pluck and upwardly pass the musical string. Then, as the shank S falls downwardly to its original position the plectrum lower side 63 strikes the musical string whereby tongue T pivots rearwardly and plectrum 60 downwardly passes the musical string and the string vibration is quenched by dampener 21.

While the present invention has been described and illustrated in conjunction with one specific embodiment thereof, it will be understood that many variations and modifications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A string plucking mechanism for plucked string instruments of the harpsichord family, said string plucking mechanism comprising an upright shank and a pivotably associated upright tongue,

(A) Said elongate upright shank having an upright longitudinal axis and comprising a forward side and an upright shank rearward side, said shank having a vertically-extending elongate slot therethrough, said shank slotted portion having a transverse upper end disposed below the shank transverse upper end whereby a transverse-bar exists between the shank upper end and the upper end of the shank slotted portion, said transverse-bar being provided with a vertical threaded bore therethrough and a vertical adjustment screw threadedly engaged with the transversebar vertical threaded bore whereby the lower lead end of the adjustment screw provides a uni-directional stop means for the tongue member, said shank slotted portion having a transverse lower end;

(B) Said elongate upright tongue including an elongate central axis, a head comprising the tongue upper portion, a tail comprising the tongue lower portion and a plectrum integrally connected to and extending for- Wardly of the tongue, said head, tail, and plectrum being singularly constructed of a resiliently deformable resinous structural material, said tongue member being disposed wholly within the shank slotted portion and being pivotally attachable to the shank, said forwardly-extending integrally-connected resinous plectrum being substantially horizontal and downwardly resiliently deflectable, the said tongue head having a lower end disposed above the lower end of the shank slotted portion, the tongue member uniphase resinous tail portion being transversely 6 narrower than the tongue head portion, the lower end of the tail portion extending below the lower end of the shank slotted portion alongside the shank rearward side whereby the said resiliently deflectable integral tail portion provides a spring means tending to resiliently normally urge the tongue member head in the forward direction.

2. The string plucking mechanism of claim 1 wherein there is a shank web portion commencing at the shank upper end and a relatively narrower shank stem portion commencing at the shank lower end, the shank stem portion having a vertical threaded bore commencing at the shank lower end and extending along the shank longitudinal axis; wherein the shank integrally includes a vertical forwardly-extending finger that is transversely oifset from the shank including at the upper end thereof whereby a compressive sheet-like sound-dampener is removably insertable between the finger and shank above the plectrum; and wherein there is a concave fillet at the lower side of the plectrum at its juncture with the head planar forward side.

3. The string plucking mechanism of claim 2 wherein the shank web portion comprises the major length proportion of the upright shank; wherein the transverse width of the shank web is substantially uniform along the length thereof; wherein the shank stem is symmetrical about the shank longitudinal axis; wherein the shank elongate length bears a ratio of at least fifteen with respect to the uniform transverse width of the shank web; wherein the shank upright rearward side includes a pair of vertical grooves therealong including an upper-groove and a lower-groove, said upper-groove commencing at the shank upper end and terminating at the transverse-bar, said lower-groove commencing at the lower end of the shank slotted portion and extending downwardly toward the shank stem whereby the tongue member tail portion is loosely disposed within said lower groove along the shank longitudinal axis; wherein the vertically-extending finger is transversely outwardly resiliently deflectable with respect to the shank web and wherein the lower extremity of the gap between the finger and the shank is disposed immediately above the plectrum, opposed portions of said finger.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,293,974 12/1966 Schutze 84-258 3,339,442 9/1967 Korbet 84-258 RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner J. F. GONZALES, Assistant Examiner 

